Heel-building machine



Nov. 23 1926.

1,607,790 -G. F. DAVIS ET AL HEEL BUILDING MACHINE Filed July 24. 1919 s Sheets-Sheet 1 F/cs.

' In venl'ors' 23 George E Dav/S Leslie 5. bo/man Nov. 23,1926. 1,607,790

(5. F. DAVIS ET AL HEEL BUILDING MACHINE Filed July 24, 1919 35heets-Sheet 2 Wren/0r: George F. Dar/1': les/ie l7. Ila/man Nov. 23 ,1925. 1,607,790

' G. F. DAVIS El AL.

HEEL BUILDING MACHINE Filed July 2 1919 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented Nov. 23, 1926.

UNETE STATES height GEORGE F. DAVIS, OF MONTREAL, QUEBEC. CANADA. AND LESTIIE A. I-IOLMAN, F WALTI-IAM, MASSACHUSETTS.

HEEL-BUILDING PEACE-ZINE.

Application filed July 24,

This invention relates to improvements in process of and apparatus for building boot and shoe heels, and the primary object of the invention is to provide for the automatic building of heels with great rapidity and accuracy.

According to this invention, the principle involved is that the time unit required to build one heel is the time required to handle one lift of the heel. This principle is applied by the provision of a number of magazines containing heel lifts of the required sizes a conveyor to receive the heel lifts, and means for ejecting lifts from the magazines simultaneously, the time of ejection being synchronized with the movement of the conveyor, so that as the conveyor passes the magazines the lifts are deposited in piles on the conveyor, each pile becoming a complete heel. The concrete application of the foregoing statements will be best understood by consideration of a specific eXamplc;-

A five lift heel is to be built. Five magazines are required. A lift is ejected fron each magazine onto a conveyor, which moves to bring the lift from No. 1 magazine in position to receive a lift from No. 2 zinc and the lift from No. 2 magazine 1I1 position to receive a lift from No. 3 magazine. the same time a blank space on the conveyor is brought in position to receive a lift from No. 1 magazine. A single lift is then ejected from each magazine on top of the lifts previously ejected. After five such ejections a complete heel will have been formed and at each lift ejecting operation thereafter a con'iplete heel will be formed. in other words at each ejecting operation all the lifts necessary to form one heel are delivered on. the conveyor and a. complete heel is ready for removal from the conveyor. It is obvious that the number of heels built per unit of lift ejecting time may be increased by increasing the number of magazines and the movement of the conveyor between lift ejecting operations. While the conveyor has been referred to as moving, this is not necessary as relative n vement between the conveyor and magarines all that required, although for ,vention Fig. 1 is a front elevation of one type of machine.

Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the machine shown in Figure 1.

Fig. 3 is a partial plan view of the machine shown in Figures 1 and 2.

Fig. i is a fragmentary cross sectional view of the conveyor illustrating the adjusting of the heel lifts.

Fig. 5 is an elevation of a variable speed conveyor drive.

Fig. 6 is an end elevation of the drive shown in Figure 5.

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary front elevation illustrating a slightly different form of machine from that shown inFigure 1.

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary cross sectional view of the mechanism shown in Figure 7.

9 is a plan View of a machine operating on the .same principles as the machine shown in Figure 1 but constructed in an entirely different manner.

Referring more particularly to Figures 1 to l of the drawings, 11 designates a table supported on legs 12 and carrying a suitable number of uprights 13 to whichhorizon'tal rails 1d are attached. The back angles 15 of the magazines 16 are secured to the rails 14. These back angles carry upper and lower forwardly projecting posts 17, upon which the front bars 18 of the magazines are slidably mounted and provided with looking screws 19 the posts. .At the bottom of each magazine a pair of spaced plates 20 are provided, which serve to support lifts in the magazine. Hingedly connected to the forward ends of the plates 20 are flanged bars 21, which form chutes leading forwardly from the bottoms of the magazines. The forward ends of these bars 21 are downwardly turned and adjustably mounted in brackets 22 carried by the table. A conveyor 23 is provided in the form of an endless chain composed of links 24 of such length that when one of them is in predetermined proper relation to a. magazine the ad joining links will be in similar relation to the adjoining magazines. Each one of these links carries a. box or die 25 formed to give proper shape to the heels, which are being built. Obviously, when a new shape of heel is to be built, suitably shaped dies will be substituted for those on the machine. The conveyor chain runs over a pair of drums 26 located one at each end of the machine. these drums being mounted on shafts Q6 and being preferably polygonal as shown, on account of the length of the links relative to the size of the drums. Extendin longitudinally under the table is a shaft 24 having gear connection 28 to drive one of the drums. This shaft carries fixed and loose pulleys 29' for a driving belt.

Any suitable form of nailing machine is located on the table at the point designated 30, in position to nail together the lifts of heels carried inst-he dies 25 of the conveyor. This nailing machine is driven in any suitable manner from the shaft 27; such as by the chain gearing 81.

In order to transfer lifts from the magazines to the conveyor a slide 32 is provided on the table. This slide carries upwardly projecting fingers 33 equal in number to the magazines and adapted to pass between the bottom plates of each magazine and be tween the bars 21 of each lift chute and drive the lifts ahead of them on to the conveyor and into contact with the dies 25, as clearl -q shown in. Figure l. Movement is imparted to the slide 82 by any suitable means such as a rack and pinion mechanism shown in Figure 2, which comprises a crank or disc 34 mounted on the shaft 27 and carrying a rack which is pivoted at one end to the crank or disc and meshes with a pinion 36 fixed to a shaft 37 journalled in the slide 3s. l. rack 38 is secured adjacent each end of the table 11 and these racks are engaged by pinions 39 fixedly mounted on the shaft 37. The slide also carries a series of resiliently mounted gluing rolledl. vhich are adapted in the rear position of the slide to engage with and be revolved by a constantly revolving glue-drum 41 partially submerged in a glue reservoir attached to the machine. These rolls 4-0 are positioned in line with the magazines and are adapted on the forward movement of the slide to have rolling contact with those portions of the lower surfaces of the bottom lifts m the magazines which are exposed between the 'magazine bottom plates 20.

The operation of the device is extremely simple. The magaz ne. are filled with lifts of suitably assorted sizes and the machine started. Rotation of the shaftfl'i produces a combined reciprocating and oscil'la' ting iinov ejmcntfof the rack 35. which rotatesthe shaft 37611 the slide. The rotation" of the is important, as it obviates the possibili magazine. it carries the completely built an pini ns 39 on this shaft in mesh with the rac 38 causes the slide to draw itself for ward. The fingers 33 on the slide enter between the bottom plates of each ma azine and drive the bottom lifts forwardly out of the magazine and down the chutes on to the conveyor. As the lift leaves the slide, one of the dies is squarely opposite to it so that the lift is driven into the die and thus accurately placed. During the forward movement of the slide the glue rolls have passed under and glued the eiinosed portions of each bottom lift in the magazines. When the slide starts back, this gluing operation is repeated. As the slide moves back the fin ers 33 which are nvotall mounted. tr)

forward allowing their passage under the bottom lift. The downturncd ends of the chutes prevent lifts in the dies from being drawn back by the fingers. The operation now repeats itself but in the time that the slide retreats and comes forward again the conveyor moves along the distance of one magazine, so that the die which previously received a lift from the first magazine now receives a lift from the second magazine and the empty die aligned with the first magazine receives a lift therefrom. This operation continues until the die which was oliginally supplied from the first magazine comes to the last magazine and receives its final lift. It will be obvious that between the first and last magazines the dies on the conveyor will contain heels in gradually increasing stages of completion. At each forward movement of the slide the fingers 33 pack into the dies the lifts they are moving and also the h s already in thedics, so that any displace acnt of the individual lifts or of the partially completed heel due to vibration or other causes will be corrected. -'lhe lllOlllllillOll"; of the chute; 21 are adjusted according to the position of the magazines which the serve; that is to say. the chute of the first magazine will have considerable inclination so as to deliver a lift in the bottom of the die. while the chute of the last u. will have less inclination and will deliver a lift at the'top of the die, or in other words will deliver a lift at a level above the last. lift in the die. The delivery of lifts at approximately their .ultimate and proper love s t}; of a lift turning over and lodging edgewse m upsidedown in a die, as might readily occ'ur if the lifts were dropped any distance. As the conveyor advances beyond the last lifts under the nailing machine. which op crates automatically at the proper moment and drives a nail through each heel for the purpose of holding the zu ious lifts in al gnment while the glue is setting.

From the foregoing description it will be seen thatbne or moreheels are'completed each time a die 25 moves the distance from one magazine to the next magazine from which it receives a lift or, in other words, each time a lift is dropped. As this operation is continuous, it will be readily seen that the output of a single machine will be very large and will in any event-be greatly in excess of existing machines in which only a single heel is built in the time the conveyor or its equivalent moves the length of the row of n'iagazines. The rate of output of this machine may be increased by increasing the speed of the conveyor and nailer relatively to the other parts of the machine. By such an arrangement, different sizes of heels may be built simultaneously on the one machine or a greater number of low heels may be built in place of a lesser number of high heels.

The gear connection shown at 28 for driving the conveyor is of such nature that the conveyor will move continuously at uniform speed. By interposing the mechanisi 1 shown in Figures 5 and 6 between the driving gear 28 and the conveyor, the continuous uniform movement of the conveyor may be changed to a selective variable speed movement or to a true integrating movement. This variable speed drive comprises a shaft which may be driven by the gear 28 and which carries any suitable number of discs 44 having pins 45 projecting therefrom and arranged parallel with the shaft 43. These pins are arranged to mesh in slots 46 formed in discs 47 revolubly mounted on the sprocket shaft 26. A

clutch member 48 slidably but itrevolubly mounted on the shaft 26 will furnish driving connection between the shaft and the discs 47 singly. The relative munber of the pins 45 and slots 46 controls the speed 'ariation and also the number of variations per revolution of the shaft 27. As shown in Figure 6, the pins are arranged so that as one pin is leaving a slot the succeeding pin is engaging the succeeding slot. lhis arrangement gives a m'oven'ient varying between the desired maximum speed and an almost dead stop and has the advantage that while the movement of the conveyor is periodically greatly reduced its momentum is never entirely lost and the machine is thereby relieved of the stresses incident to stopping and starting of the heavy conveyor. By using a smaller number of pins without corresponding reduction in the number of slots, the conveyor will be given an integrating' movement. The effect of the variable speed or integrating movement of the conveyor will be to cause any given die on the conveyor to move more slowly while passing in front of the magazines and to move more quickly while passing from one magazine to the next, so that greater time is allowed for co-operation between the conveyor and other parts of the machine, en-

magazines and provided with fingers arranged in pairs at suitable intervals and each pair designed to sweep the bottom lifts out of the magazines successively so that these lifts drop directly on the conveyor. These finger pairs operate simultaneously on all magazines so that operation follows exactly the principle set forth at the beginning of the specification. hese fin co-operate with the magazines in exactly the same manner as the fingers 3-3 and the change in the direction of finger movement necessitates the magazines to be each turned through an angleof 90 about its own axis relatively to the position shown in Figure l to enable the passage of the fingers. position of the conveyor eliminates the chutes 21 and all the previously described lift transferring mechanism moving transversely of the direction of conveyor move- This ment and thereby eliminates in part the.

gluing mechanism. Gluing is now effected by resiliently mounting the individual rolls 40 on rocker arms 50 carried by a rock shaft 51, which is suitably connected to the shaft 27 and operates periodically to carry the glue rolls 40 from the drum 41 to the bottom lifts in the magazines and back, while the fingers 49 are travelling from magazine to magazine. In other respects the construction and operation of the machine is similar to the construction and operation of the machine shown in Figure 1.

In the machines shown in Figures 1 to 8 the magazines have been arranged in a vertical plane and the conveyor also in a vertical plane. In Figure 9 the conveyor is shown arranged in a horizontal plane. The conveyor is shown as a circular table 52 revolved by any suitable means, such as a driving pinion 53, and arranged so that the peripheral portion of the table moves past a battery of magazines vertically disposed ion lar arrangement shown in Figure 9 further indicates that the same relative movement between the conveyor and magazines may be produced if the table 52 is stationary and the magazine drum revolved. This change of condition would in no way affect the piling but introduces certain complications in the matter of discharging the finished heels, so that for practical reasons a moving conveyor and stationary magazines are preferable. It will further be noted that in the circular machine, the conveyor travels under the magazines and the operation of removing lifts from the magazines is accomplished in the same manner as shown in Figures 7 and 8. It is obvious that the conveyor portion may be outside or inside the circular row of magazines and the lifts moved radially fromthesmagazines to the conveyor after the manner of the machine shown in Figures lto An alternative gluing mechanism is shown comprising a pipe 55 adapted to convey glue from a suitable pump (not shown) to a series of spouts alternated with the magazines. The strokes of the pump are synchronized with the movement of the conveyor so that as the lifts pass from one magazine to the next a suitable amount of glue will be squirted on the approximate centre of each top lift. This spot of glue will be squeezed out to nearly the edges of the lift by the weight of the succeeding lifts and the pressure placed on the completed heel by the nailing operation. It is obvious that this method of gluing may be applied to any form of machine quite as well as to the circular machine shown in Figure 9.

From the foregoing description, it will be seen that the broad underlying principle upon which all the forms of machine here in described operate is the relative movement of a conveyor and a row of magazines and the discharge of lifts from all magazines simultaneously on to the conveyor, the speed of the conveyor being synchronized with the lift discharging mechanism, so that a lift from one magazine delivers upon the lift from a previous magazine and in position to receive a lift from a succeeding magazine. Such a process of building heels has the great advantage that it is continuone and produces an extremely large output.

Heretofore the delivery of the lifts from the magazines has been described as occurring simultaneously. This term has been used merelybecause it is true. of the various types of machines.illustrated. and because the term facilitates an understanding of the invention and not because it is. a necessary feature of the invention. Without departing in the least from the spirit of the invention, the lifts could bedelivered in either regular or irregular progression as long as a like ratio existed in the spacing of the magazines or of the lift receiving dies on the conveyor. The advantage of such an arrangement would be a distribution of the load incident to lift ejection.

Having thus described. our invention, what we claim is 1. In a heel building machine, the combination of a continuously moving conveyor and means for depositing lifts in piles on said conveyor to form heels, the movement of said depositing means being in a straight path and transverse to the movement of said conveyor.

2. In a heel building machine, the combination of a continuously moving conveyor and means operating in a straight path transversely to said conveyor for building up heel piles of lifts on said conveyor.

3. In a heel building machine, the combination of a continuously moving conveyor and means reciprocating in a straight path for depositing lifts in piles on said conveyor to form heels.

4. In a heel building machine, the combination of a continuously moving conveyor and means operating transversely in a straight path for depositing successive series of lifts in rows on said conveyor to form heel piles thereon; said deposits being so timed that the conveyor between depositing operations moves a space equal to the centre to centre distance between adjacent heel piles.

5. In a heel building machine, the combination of a continuously moving conveyor and means reciprocating in a straight path for depositing successive series of lifts in rows on said conveyor to form heel piles thereon; said deposits being so timed that the conveyor between depositing operations moves a space equal to the centre to centre distance between adjacent heel piles.

6. In a heel building machine, the co1nbination of a series of lift magazines, a continuously moving conveyor and means for positively depositing lifts from said magazines in piles on said conveyor to form heels.

7. In a heel building machine, the combination of a series of lift magazines, a continuously moving conveyor and means op erating in a straight path transversely to said conveyor for building up heel piles of lifts on said conveyor from said magazines.

8. In a heel building machine, the combination of, a series of lift magazines, a continuously moving conveyor and means operating transversely in a straight path for depositing successive series of lifts from said magazines in rows on said conveyor to form heel piles thereon; said deposits being so timed that the conveyor between depositing operations'moves a spaceequal to the centre to centre distance between adjacent heel piles.

9. In a heel building machine, the combination of a series of lift magazines arranged in a row, a continuously moving conveyor in front of said row of magazines and means moving in a straight path for depositing successive series of lifts from said magazines upon said conveyor to form heel piles.

10. In a heel building machine, a series of 'magazines arranged in a row, a conveyor travelling parallel with said row, means for simultaneously transferring a single lift from each of a plurality of said magazines to the conveyor and depositing said lifts in uniformly spaced relation and in alignment in a row on the conveyor, and conveyor operating means arranged to move the conveyor continuously during the operation of the machine and through a sufficient dis tance between transferring operations to bring a lift transferred from the first magazine into alignment with the second magazine, whereby, on a second transferring operation, a lift from the second magazine will be deposited on the lift previously deposited from the first magazine.

11. In combination with a device according to claim l0,'an independently operable lift gluing device for each magazine, and means for simultaneously operating the gluing devices, alternately with the lift transferring operations.

12. In combination, in a heel buildingmachine, a series of lift magazines, a conveyor to receive lifts from the magazines, and means for gluing lifts in the magazines and about to be transferred to the conveyor.

- 13. In combination, in a heel building machine, a series of lift magazines, a conveyor moving continuously during the operation of the machine and at regularly varying speed, and means for transferring lifts from the magazines to the conveyor.

14. In combination, in a heel building machine, a series of lift magazines, a conveyor, and means for transferring lifts from the magazines to the conveyor, said conveyor moving continuously during the operation of the machine and at regularly varying speed, the periods of low speed movement synchronizing with the operations of the lift transferring means.

15. In a heel building machine, the com bination of a series of lift magazines arranged in a row, a continuously moving conveyor travelling parallel with said row and in front thereof and having lift receiving means spaced similarly to the spacing of said magazines, and means reciprocating in a straight path for transferring successive series of lifts from said magazines to said conveyor to build up heel piles thereon.

16. In a heel building machine, the combination of a continuously moving conveyor and means separate from and on one side of said conveyor for positioning successive pluralities of lifts on said conveyor to build heel piles thereon; the movement of said conveyor and said depositing means being so synchronized that a heel pile is completed upon each movement of the said depositing means.

17. In a heel building machine, the combination of a continuously moving conveyor and means separate from and on one side of said conveyor for positively positioning successive pluralities of lifts on said conveyor to build heel piles thereon; the movement of said conveyor and said depositing means being so synchronized that a heel pile is completed upon' each movement of the said depositing means.

18. In a heel building machine, the combination of a continuously moving conveyor and means for engaging and moving lifts edgewise onto said conveyor to build up heel piles thereon.

19. In a heel building machine, the combination of a series of lift magazines, a continuously. moving conveyor and means intermediate said magazines and said conveyor for moving lifts'edgewise from said maga zines to said conveyor to build up heel piles thereon. r

20. In a heel building machine, the combination of a series of lift magazines'arranged in a row,a continuously moving conveyor and means intermediate said magazines and said conveyor for moving lifts edgewise from said magazines to said conveyor to build up heel piles thereon.

21. In a heel building machine, the combination of a bottom delivery magazine for supplying heel lifts, a conveyor upon which heels maybe built up from a plurality of lifts, a chute intermediate said n'iagazine and said conveyor and means reciprocating in a straight path for moving the. lowermost lift in said magazine out of said magazine along said chute and onto said conveyor.

22. In a heel building machine, the combination of a bottom delivery magazine for supplying lifts, a movable conveyor upon which heels may be built up from a plurality of lifts, a chute extending from the bottom of said magazine to said conveyor trans versely thereto and means for moving heel lifts from said magazine over said chute to said conveyor.

23. In a heel building machine, the combination of a bottom delivery magazine for supplying lifts, a continuously moving conveyor, means intermediate said magazine and said conveyor for permitting lifts to be pushed from said magazine along said means to said conveyor, said means being adjustable in relation to sa1d conveyor and being so designed as to prevent any twisting movement of the lift while being pushed, and means for moving the lowermost heel lift from said magazine along said intermediate means to said conveyor.

24. In a heel building machine, the combination of a bottom delivery magazine, a movable conveyor for receiving lifts to form heel piles and a runway intermediate said magazine and said conveyor adapted for the passage of lifts edgewise from said magazine to said conveyor and means reciprocating in a straight path for pushing the lowermost lift from said magazine along said runway and onto said conveyor upon each forward movement of said reciprocating means.

25. In a heel building machine, the CO111 bination of a bot om delivery magazine for supplying heel lifts, a movable conveyor, :1 run-way intermediate said magazine and said conveyor, reciprocating means for pushing the lowermost lift from said magazine to said conveyor over said run-way upon each forward movement of said reciprocating means and means carried by said reciproeating means for applying glue to the under surface of the next succeeding lift in said magazine upon each movement of said reciprocating means.

26. In a heel building machine, the combination of a bottom delivery magazine for supplying heel lifts, a movable conveyor adapted to receive said heel lifts in piles to form heels, a run-way intermediate said magazine and said conveyor for the passage of lifts from said magazine to said conveyor, the free end of said run-way being adjustable in relation to said conveyor, and means for moving lifts from said magazine over said run-way to said conveyor.

27. In a heel building machine, the combination of a magazine for holding lifts, a continuously moving conveyor, a run-way intermediate said magazine and said conveyor for the passage of lifts from the formor to the latter and means for moving lifts from said magazine to said conveyor along said run-way.

28. In a heel building machine, thecombination of a magazine for holding heel lifts, a movable conveyor, a run-way intermediate said magazine and said conveyor for the passage of heel lifts from the former to the latter, said run-way being provided with means preventing the turning of said lifts during passage thereover and means for moving lifts from said magazine over said run-way to said conveyor.

29. In a heel building machine, the combination of a bottom delivery magazine for holding heel lifts, a movable conveyor adapted to receive lifts in piles to form heels, a run-way intermediate said magazine and said conveyor for the passage of heel lifts,

said run-way being inclined downwardly to ward said conveyor and means for moving heel lifts one at a time from said magazine to said conveyor.

30. In a heel building machine, the combination of a series of lift magazines, a con tinuously movin conveyor and means intermediate said magazines and said conveyor for moving successive series of lifts from said magazines to said conveyor to form heel piles thereon.

31. In a heel building machine, the coup bination of a series of lift magazines, a continuously moving conveyor and mean" inter mediate said magazines and said conve nfor moving successive of lifts u said magazines to said conveyor to form heel piles thereon; said intermediate means b provided with means for applying adhesive to lifts in the magazines.

32. In a heel building machine, the con: nation of aseries of lift magazines, a continuously moving conveyor, means interme diate said magazines and said conveyor for moving successive series of lifts from said magazines to said conveyor to build up heel piles thereon; and means carried by said intermediate means for applying adhesive to the under surfaces of the next succeeding series of lifts while the same are in the mag azines.

In a heel building machine, the combination of a series of lift magazines, a continuously moving conveyor, IGClPlOCtltll means for moving heels from said magazines to said conveyor to build up heel piles the: on and'means carried by said reciprocat 2 means for applying adhesive to the bottom lifts in said magazines pen each moving operation of said reciprocating means.

34. In a heel building machine, the combination of a series of lift magazines, a continuously moving conveyor provided with a plurality of heel forms and means for mov 'ing lifts from said magazines into said forms on said conveyor for building up heels thereon.

35. In a heel building machine, the conr bination of a continuously moving conveyor provided with a plurality of heel forms and means for depositing lifts in said heel forms on said conveyor to build up heels.

36. In a heel building machine, the combination of a continuously moving conveyor and means operating transversely thereto for depositing lifts by edgewise engagement therewith onto said conveyor in piles to form heels...

37. In a heel building machine, the combination of a conveyor, a bottom delivery magazine, reciprocating means for engaging edgewise the bottom lift in said'magazine and for pushing it forwardly onto said conveyor and means carried by said reciprotil? Ill

0-: means i next succeedn lift in saic forward n'ioveinen thereof.

" In a heel building machine, the con1- adhesive to the DiiW'tlT Jliit) on the 0O. bination ot a conveyor, a bottom delivery magazine for holding a column of heel-lifts, reciprocating means for engaging and moving the lowe= lost lift in said magazine onto d conveyor and means carried by said reciprocating means for applying adhesive to the bottom face of the next succeeding botton' lift in said magazine on the forward moves. ent of said reciprocating means.

39. in a heel building machine, the combination of a conveyor, a bottom delivery magazine for holding heel-lifts, reciprocating means for engaging and moving the lowermost lift in said magazine onto said conveyor and a roll carried by said reciprocating means for applying adhesive to the bottom face oi? the next succeeding lift in said magazine on the forward movement of said reciprocating means.

i0. In a heel building machine the combination of a battery of lift magazines a continuously moving conveyor travelling in front at said battery, lift guides extending from said magazines to said conveyor, the discharge ends of said guides being located at distances above said conveyor increasing progressively in the direction of conveyor movement and means operating transversel to said conveyor for moving successive se ries of lifts from said magazines over said guides onto said conveyor to form heel piles thereon.

In Witness Whereofl We have hereunto set our hands.

GEORGE F. DAVIS. LESLIE A. HOLMAN. 

